I asked Philips Hue if its Nanoleaf collaboration could lead to more smart lighting partnerships – here’s the full answer
Philips Hue opens up about its plans to work with more smart home brands
If you missed Philips Hue’s big product announcements last week, there’s quite a lot to catch up on. The company unveiled an impressive number of new products and features, and whilst several of the recent rumours turned out to be spot on – including the Hue Play Screen Sync and Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 4K – there were also a few surprises that I certainly wasn’t expecting.
I was in Berlin for the announcements, which also gave me the opportunity to sit down with George Yianni, Head of R&D at Hue Connected; Marco Merolla, Business Leader for Consumer Connected Lighting; and Drago Jozic, Market Leader for Benelux & UK&I. After following the rumours and developments in the run-up to the event, this was my chance to get some answers directly from the people behind Philips Hue and find out what the company has planned next.
However, there was one thing in particular I was keen to ask about... Philips Hue’s decision to collaborate with Nanoleaf.
Nanoleaf has been in the spotlight quite a bit recently following its acquisition, so seeing the brand team up with Philips Hue immediately raised a few questions for me. Most importantly, I wanted to know whether this was simply a one-off collaboration or the beginning of something bigger for Hue.
After speaking with George, Marco and Drago, the main – and rather exciting – takeaway is that Philips Hue isn't ruling out more collaborations with other smart home brands.
The team wouldn't reveal exactly what's next on its partnership roadmap, but it did confirm that Philips Hue is looking at a range of potential integrations with other brands and platforms.
In fact, when discussing why Hue would choose to partner with another company rather than develop a product itself, George put it pretty simply: “If what’s there is already a great fit, why would we do it ourselves?”
The chat we had also gave me a much better understanding of Philips Hue’s thinking behind the Nanoleaf partnership. The company doesn’t need to build every type of smart lighting product itself, and if another brand already excels in a particular category, working together can ultimately create a better experience for customers.
Nanoleaf was a natural fit because its decorative lighting panels filled a gap in the Hue lineup. In fact, Hue says it had already seen members of its community combining Nanoleaf panels with their Hue setups, which George described as “clearly a gap for people that wanted to have the Hue experience in every room of their house.”
Marco also stressed that partnerships aren't simply about filling gaps in the product range. As he put it, “The consumer experience in some selected areas can be better if we partner with another brand than having to try to fix that gap ourselves.”
Nanoleaf wasn't the only collaboration announced that day, either. Selected Hue switches, including the Hue Tap Dial Switch, can now control Sonos speakers without you needing to open an app. However, the Nanoleaf partnership feels particularly interesting because it's a collaboration between two brands that could otherwise be seen as competitors.
Rather than keeping their products completely separate, Philips Hue and Nanoleaf are finding a way for them to work together. This could make both ecosystems more useful in the process, and if Hue's comments are anything to go by, Nanoleaf may not be the last smart home brand we see it work with.
